It is well known that to attain the best agricultural performance from a piece of land, a farmer must cultivate the soil, typically through a tillage operation. Common tillage operations include plowing, harrowing, and sub-soiling. Farmers perform these tillage operations by pulling a tillage implement behind an agricultural work vehicle, such as a tractor. Depending on the crop selection and the soil conditions, a farmer may need to perform several tillage operations at different times over a crop cycle to properly cultivate the land to suit the crop choice.
For example, modern farm practices demand a smooth, level field with small clods of soil in the fall and spring of the year. In this regard, residue must be cut, sized and mixed with soil to encourage the residue to decompose and not build up following subsequent passes of machinery. To achieve such soil conditions, it is known to utilize rolling baskets, such as crumbler reels, to produce smaller, more uniform clod sizes and to aid in the mixing of residue. Typically, such rolling baskets are configured to be raised relative to the ground when operating the implement in a transport mode. For example, in many instances, the rolling baskets are rigidly coupled to a portion of the implement frame such that the baskets are cantilevered relative to the ground when such portion of the implement frame is moved to a raised or transport position. However, such a configuration significantly increases the load applied through the implement during transport and also reduces the tongue weight for the implement. Similar disadvantages are also provided by other conventional rigidly coupled, rear-mounted finishers that are configured to be cantilevered when moved to the transport position. For example, in addition to the cantilevered loads, such finishers typically drastically reduce the tongue weight for the implement, which can present a safety hazard.
To address such cantilevered loading, it also known to provide ground-engaging wheels in operative association with rolling baskets. Unfortunately, to date, tool assemblies including ground-engaging wheels incorporated with rolling baskets have required that separate hydraulic actuators or lifting mechanisms be coupled to the wheels to allow the wheels to be raised and lowered relative to the ground independent of the baskets. Thus, such conventional tool assemblies are often quite expensive and can be complex in nature.
Accordingly, an improved auxiliary tool assembly for supporting a finishing tool(s) relative to the ground that addresses one or more of the above-describes issues of the prior art would be welcomed in the technology.